The Roundup

BA Barajas: Man on Fire

Let's hope the Royals, Astros and Padres all got the memo: wait Joba out and let him run out of gas. I don't think I've been prouder of the Jays that I was during Joba's 2 1/3 innings last night: patient, selective and totally in the driver's seat. Piling it on in the 7th was nice, too, but still, it was early display of chutzpah that impressed me most of all. Many in Yankeeland feel that the Joba transition hasn't been as well-planned out as it should've been, and assessment I'm in full agreement with.

Tonight young Jesse Litsch takes on ancient shitballer Mike Mussina, who now dials his fastball up into the mid-80s. A win for Litsch would tie him for the AL lead, which, frankly, would probably be the single most shocking early season development for yours truly. The ESPN Supercomputer (wrong last night, but right all through the LAA series) lists the Yankees as heavy-ish favourites (57% chance of victory) even though the Jays slapped Mousse around on April 2.

The Yankees have not seen Litsch this year and will have to swing the bats if they want to beat him: this Ginger has walked a mere 9 batters in 65 IP. He's only had one Yankee Stadium start and it was a Jim Dandy. Jorge Posada might be in the lineup for the Yanks today or tomorrow, but even if he is he'll have more rust that a 1979 Chevelle.

FYI, the amateur draft will be broadcast live at mlb.com tomorrow, starting at 2 p.m. EST. I passed along some draft commentary on Monday if you'd like to get up to speed. Here's a good Jerry Crasnick piece on some late-rounders who turned out to be gems. (Russ Martin, this year's winner of the Tip O'Neil Award for best Canadian player in baseball, went in the 17th round back in 2002).

A short draft update: the verbally-challenged Bob Elliot of the Sun (seriously, did any of you hear that rambling Prime Time Sports appearance yesterday?), doesn't figure Canuck Brett Lawrie will fall to the Jays, who pick 17th. He expects the Astros, Brewers, Twins or Reds to snap him up early. We shall see.

I know a guy who used to party with this drug-addicted ex-Jay guy back in the early '90s when he was trying to restablish himself as a minor league coach here in London. He never could overcome those demons and spent 14 years in the clink because of it.

-- Johnny Was